Reeds for woodwing instruments



Jan. 5, 1960 A. R. BRILHART 2,919,617

REEDS FOR WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS- Filed June 30, 1955 INVENTOR Arnold R.Brilhort characteristics of reeds cut from high quality cane.

United States Patent REEDS FOR WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS Arnold R. Brilhart,Carlsbad, Calif.

Application June 30, 1955, Serial No. 519,213

8 Claims. (Cl. 84-383) This invention relates to reeds for woodwindmusical instruments and to a method for fabricating such reeds.

For many years past reeds for woodwind musical instruments have beenmade by cutting them out of natural wood materials such as cane, one ofthe more desirable varieties for this purpose being known as ArundoDonax.

The naturally occurring variations in density, rigidity and porosity ofcane make it extremely difiicult to cut a reed having predictable tonequality and playability. It is even more difiicult to produce a batch ofreeds of uniform quality. The inevitable result is that theinstrumentalist must purchase or cut for himself a large number of reedsand select from these perhaps one or two having suitable stiffness andtone quality. Very often a reed of basically good cane must be trimmedand thinned before it is suitable. Moreover, the characteristics of aninitially excellent reed will change as the reed ages and absorbsmoisture during use.

In recent years, some attempts have been made to manufacture reeds ofuniform quality by molding them from synthetic resins. Reeds of thiskind have not proven satisfactory for the reason that the mechanicalproperties of the resins used are uniform in all directions and do notapproximate in any way the very desirable characteristics of naturalmaterials having a directional grain. It is this latter property whichmakes cane and similar naturally occurring substances generally mostdesirable for reeds.

I have invented a method for fabricating wind instrument reeds by whichI produce reeds having the desirable y new method permits, through theuse of synthetic materials having controllable properties, theproduction of any number of reeds having the same uniform texture,rigidity and porosity. Reeds produced according to my new method havetone quality comparable to those manufactured from the highest grades ofnatural cane, yet they are easy and economical to manufacture in a widerange of stiffnesses or hardnesses to suit the requirements of everyinstrumentalist.

According to my new method I form a reed body by disposing a pluralityof natural or synthetic textile fibers generally lengthwise with respectto the body to be formed and then impregnating and binding the fibersinto a unitary Whole with a plastic compound, advantageously a syntheticresin compound. The reed may be finished to final form by carrying outthe above steps in a mold cavity having a shape and size appropriate tothe instrument on which the reed is to be used. In the alternative, areed blank may be formed by the steps outlined above and then bemachined by conventional reed making processes to the final desiredshape.

Either of these methods will produce a reed having mechanical propertiesgenerally similar to a natural substance such as cane which has adirectional grain. The rigidity of such a reed can be controlled by thedensity of the threads and the mechanical characteristics of the plasticused to bind them together. Another advantage blanks.

Patented Jan. 5, 1960 of a reed made according to my method is that ithas negligible porosity and will not become progressively less rigid, orsofter, as it absorbs moisture during use. On the contrary, my new reedwill retain its initial characteristics for an extended period of timeand will not deteriorate with age and use.

In the following specification I give a detailed description of severalvariations of the basic method of my invention and I describe thestructure of reeds produced thereby. In the course of the specificationreference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a reed for a single reed woodwindinstrument;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of assembled laminations of fabric illustrating astep in the fabrication of the reed of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of the assembledlaminations of Fig. 2.

In the following examples where a mold is referred to, it is to beunderstood that the mold is a conventional one for molding and settingplastic resins under heat and pressure and that it has a cavity, theshape and dimensions of which are adapted to produce a reed of the. sizeand shape appropriate to the particular type of musical instrument onwhich the reed is to be used. Thus, cavities for fabricating reeds forsingle reed instruments'such as clarinets and saxophones will generallybe of the same shape and will vary only in size. The cavities of moldsfor fabricating reeds for double reed instruments such as oboes andbassoons will of necessity be somewhat more complex and it will beobvious to those skilled in the art that the techniques described insome of the examples below will be more suitable than others forfabricating reeds for double reed instruments.

Example I A saxophone reed body was fabricated by die cutting fiveblanks from a piece of fabric formed of glass fiber threads. The fabricwas approximately 0.004 inch thick and comprised primarily of warpthreads with only enough weft threads to hold the warp threads together.It was impregnated with a binding agent comprising a conventionalthermosetting combination of phenolic and polyamide resins.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3 the blanks 1a, b, c, d, e were cut with thewarp threads 2 running lengthwise of the Blank 1a was the shortest andblanks lb-e were cut progressively longer.

The blanks were piled into the cavity of a mold having the approximateshape and size of the reed to be formed with the longest blank 1e on thebottom as shown in Fig. 3. Each successively shorter blank was laid ontop of the underlying blank with its square cut end even with thecorresponding end of the underlying reed. The mold was then closed andheat and pressure were applied. The phenolic and polyamide resin mixtureused set up and cured in about 40 minutes at a temperature in the range240 to 325 F.

After the resin had set and cured, the reed body was removed from themold and machine finished to desired dimensions on a conventional reedmaking machine. The tapering portion of the laminated body to the rightin Figs. 2 and 3 was cut to form the tongue 3 of the finished reed ofFig. 1 while the thick portion of the laminated body formed the butt 4of the reed.

Example 11 A saxophone reed was fabricated from five layers of glassfabric impregnated with a combination of phenolic and polyamide resin.Each layer, la-e, of cloth was die cut to the precise size, thelowermost layer as seen in Figs. 2 and 3 being longest and eachsucceeding upper layer being somewhat shorter. These layers were placedin a mold having a cavity shaped and dimensioned to the precise shapeand size of the saxophone reed. The mold was closed and heat andpressure were applied to set the resin and to bond the live layers intoa unitary laminated body. The curing cycle for the particular resin usedwas approximately 40 minutes at a temperature of 240 to 325 F. The reedthus formed was of the exact shape and size required and no furthertrimming or machining was required.

Example III A saxophone reed was formed by superimposing, in a moldcavity having the exact shape and dimensions of the reed desired, fivelayers of an unwoven glass fabric of which all the glass fibers weresubstantially unidirectional, there being no transverse fibers. Thefibers were loosely held together by a bonding agent. Each blank offabric was die cut to the exact shape required and was progressivelyshorter than the next underlying layer to provide a tapering portion forthe tongue of the reed.

The glass fiber fabric was impregnated with a polyester resin prior toplacing the laminations in the mold cavity. Heat and pressure wereapplied to the laminations in the mold for a time long enough to set theplastic and form the laminations into a unitary body. The reed producedin this manner required no further processing or machining prior to itsuse.

Example I V A saxophone reed was formed utilizing a mold adapted forinjection molding. The cavity of the mold was shaped and dimensioned tothe exact size required for the reed to be made. A number of blanks weredie cut from a glass fiber cloth having only enough weft threads to holdthe warp threads in position. The blanks were cut so that the warpthreads extended longitudinally and were placed in the mold cavity withthe warp threads disposed longitudinally thereof. The mold was closedand polystyrene was injected into the mold cavity at a temperature of425 F. and under a pressure of 20,000 pounds per square inch. Themolding cycle was of approximately 30 seconds duration. The reed formedby this process was of the exact size and shape required. No furthermachining was necessary.

The examples given above are only illustrative of my invention and arenot to be considered exhaustive of the combination of fabrics andbonding agents. By suitable combinations of other fabrics such asDacron, nylon, linen and other synthetic or natural fibers and othersynthetic resin bonding agents, reeds for woodwind musical instrumentsmay be produced which have awide range of stiffnesses or hardnesses. Byvarying the proportion of weft threads to warp threads, the transversestiffness of the reed relative to its longitudinal stiffness may also becontrolled.

The particular order of the steps of the method is not critical. Forexample, the reeds of Examples 1 and Ill could have been made by placingthe resin in the mold cavity after the fabric was cut and piled in thecavity. Furthermore, the reeds could be formed of a plurality ofindividual threads cut to appropriate lengths rather than from blankscut from fabric. The individual threads could be pro-impregnated withresin or the resin could be added to the threads after they were placedin the mold cavity.

An outstanding feature of my invention is that the particularcombination of characteristics of a reed may .be reproduced over andover because all the factors which determine the characteristics, suchas the nature of the fiber and of the bonding agent, their relativeproportions, and the manner in which the bonding agent is set, may becontrolled within very narrow limits.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that I have made a verysubstantial contribution to the long standing problem of manufacturingmusical instrument reeds of uniform quality and tone characteristics. Ihave set forth several particular embodiments to illustrate myinvention. However, the details of these embodiments are not to beconstrued as limitations. The scope of the invention is defined in thesubjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A reed for a musical woodwind instrument comprising a plurality ofsuperposed layers of fabric consisting of threads of textile fibers, thewarp threads being disposed lengthwise of the reed and being moreclosely spaced than the weft threads, and a matrix of plastic materialin which said layers of fabric are unitarily combined.

2. A reed for a musical woodwind instrument comprising a plurality ofsuperposed, unitarily combined, plastic impregnated layers of fabricconsisting of threads of textile fibers, said layers of fabric havingthe warp threads thereof more closely spaced than the weft threads.

3. A reed for a musical woodwind instrument comprising a plurality ofsuperposed layers of fabric consisting of threads of glass fibers, and amatrix of cured phenolic and polyamide resins in which said layers offabrics are unitarily combined.

4. A reed for a musical woodwind instrument comprising a plurality ofsuperposed, unitarily combined, layers of phenolic and polyamide resinimpregnated fabric, said fabrics consisting of warp and weft threads ofglass fibers, and having the warp threads disposed substantiallylengthwise of the reed.

5. A reed for a musical woodwind instrument comprising a plurality ofsuperposed layers of fabric consisting of threads of glass fibers, thewarp threads being disposed lengthwise of the reed and being moreclosely spaced than the weft threads, and a matrix of cured polystyreneresin in which said layers of fabrics are unitarily combined.

6. A reed for a musical woodwind instrument comprising a plastic matrixof appropriate form, said matrix having embedded therein throughoutsubstantially its entire vibratory-length preformed textile fibers, atleast the majority of said fibers extending lengthwise of said matrix.

7. A reed for a musical woodwind instrument as set forth in claim 6 inwhich the plastic matrix is a polyester resin, and the textile fibersare glass and are substantially parallel.

8. A reed for a musical woodwind instrument comprising a plastic matrixof appropriate form, said matrix having embedded therein throughoutsubstantially its entire vibratory length a plurality of superposedlayers of fabric consisting of threads of textile fibers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,779,522 Widmayer Oct. 28, 1930 2,485,827 Hartzell Oct. 25, 1949FOREIGN PATEllTS 786,695 France June 17, 1935

